Page 57 of Jolene's Justice

Despite the dizziness, he sat up. He braced himself against the wall, gritting his teeth as the pain continued to pulsate through his body. The night she’d cut him with the knife and he’d had to stitch himself up hadn’t been nearly as painful as this.

“What do you want, Angelica?” he asked, infusing as much calm into his voice as he could, given the circumstances. It was a lesson he’d learned after years of trying to talk her crazy down.

“What do you mean?” she asked. “We’re married. I just wanted to spend some time in an intimate cabin with my husband. You didn’t come home after the helicopter crashed. Why didn’t you come home?”

Finch narrowed his eyes at her. “What do you know about my helicopter?”

“Nothing. Nothing. You know I don’t know about things like that.”

“Angelica. Did you do something to my helo?”

She looked at him, aghast, but he’d seen that expression before. It was completely fake. And a precursor to her turning things around until he was to blame for everything. “How could I have done something? I don’t know anything about helicopters. You’re the expert. You probably didn’t take care of it the way you should, as usual. You really should be more careful, Atty. You could get someone killed.”

And there it was. The manipulative bitch was out in full force. She’d twist anything and everything to put the blame squarely on his shoulders. It wasn’t going to work this time.

“What did you do to my helicopter?” he hissed through gritted teeth.

“Atty. I just wanted you home. If you’d gotten hurt, I would have taken care of you.”

“What did you do to my helicopter?”

Her pacing quickened as her agitation grew. She began to mutter to herself. “He said it would work. He said it would work to bring you home.”

Finch tried one more time. “What did you do to my helicopter?”

“He told me the gallium would work to bring you home.”

Gallium? He’d never heard of it. “What’s gallium, Angelica?”

“It’s just a harmless acid. He said something about metal embrittlement when it interacts with steel.”

Jesus Christ. She’d sabotaged his helicopter. He could have been killed. Jolene could have been killed. If he was any less of a pilot, they very well might have been.Fuck. He’d known she was dangerous, but he just didn’t understand how far she was willing to go. He’d find a way to make her pay. And the man who helped her.

Rage flared through him. Rage unlike any he’d experienced before. He didn’t care what she did to him. He could take whatever she dished out. Had taken it for years. But screwing with his helicopter? Endangering other people’s lives? Endangering Jolene? No way.

“Why? Why would you do this?”

“We’re married. We belong together. I just wanted to bring you home.”

“We’re not married anymore. I’m not your husband. I’m finally free of you.”

“Shut up,” she shouted, slapping the blade of the knife against her thigh.

“You need to accept that,” he reasoned.

She turned her back on him, her hands going up to cover her ears, the knife still gripped tightly in one, sticking up like some macabre antenna. The blade caught the light, reflecting a deadly shimmer. His spine tingled with a sense of foreboding that he couldn’t shake. The feeling grew worse as he observed his ex-wife’s insanity.

“No!” she shouted. “Lalalala. I’m not listening. You are my husband. I’m your wife. There is no changing that.”

“Angelica . . .”

Her singsongy voice was like nails on a chalkboard as she continued to sing “Lalala.” Jesus Christ, she was bat shit crazy. How had he never seen it when they were younger? He thought of himself as a pretty observant guy. He had to be with his job. First with the Air Force, then with the Nighthawks. Flying required him to be constantly vigilant and aware of his surroundings to ensure safety. To avoid danger, he had to remain acutely aware of everything and everyone around him.

But he’d missed his wife’s true personality. Had he been so blinded by love in those early years that he hadn’t seen the clues? Thinking back now, they were so obvious. He’d been such a fool. And look where that had gotten him. Trapped in a cabin with an insane person.

“You have to face reality. Our divorce was final.”

She spun so fast he didn’t have time to react. She slapped him across the face so hard his head bounced off the wall behind him. He groaned as dizziness swamped him. He bit back the bile that burned in his throat, refusing to show that bit of weakness to her.

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